This is what it feels like to send a son to war.

This is what it feels like to send a son to war.

By Kathleen M. Rodgers

Last night in a parking lot at Fort Hood, Texas, I stood with my family as we gathered to say farewell to my youngest son, a first lieutenant in the United States Army, as he prepared to deploy to an undisclosed location in the Middle East. Even though we were smiling with pride in the group photo, our hearts were already breaking. I held it together for the send-off, but I fell apart after we got back to the hotel.

Deployments are not new to me. Twenty-four years ago, I sent my husband into harm’s way when he flew fighter jets in the Air Force. I wrote about our experience in two national publications (Family Circle Magazine and Military Times), and a fictionalized account appears in my first novel, The Final Salute.  Back then I had to be strong as I had two young sons who depended on me for everything.

But sending your beloved husband on a deployment into harm’s way is different than sending your precious child. The photo of me hugging my son is all the explanation one needs to understand why.

Even as I embraced my son for one more hug, I already missed him.

Please America, don’t take your freedom for granted.

Signed,

A military mom

Kathleen M. Rodgers 

Author's note: The photo of me embracing my son was taken by my oldest son's future wife, Brittany McDaniel. I had no idea the camera was on me until later when Brittany sent me the image via text message. I am forever grateful to Brittany that she captured this emotional moment.  I am working on my third novel-in the beginning stages-and my protagonist has just sent her 19-year-old-son off to war. On the drive back to Fort Worth, I kept thinking in real time about sending our son off and about the first chapter I've already written for Seven Wings to Glory. My plan is to pour myself into getting this third novel written during my son’s deployment.

“One Woman's Wait” ran in all three editions of Military Times, 10/1/90. The story focused on how my two young sons and I coped after my fighter pilot husband deployed to the Middle East. With the world tuned to the crisis in the Persian Gulf, I knew my story might appeal to a bigger market like Family Circle. Two weeks after I contacted the magazine, they offered me a contract. “I'll Be All Right Without You” came out 1/8/91.

  

Author Kathleen M. Rodgers’ two sons moments after they tied a yellow ribbon around the gigantic pecan tree at their base quarters in support of their dad's deployment to Saudi Arabia Aug. '90.

Kathleen M. Rodgers’ novel The Final Salute, (forthcoming in republication with Deer Hawk Publications later this year), puts you in the shoes of a military wife and mother like no other. The glue that holds a family together, Gina has no idea what is happening or if she will ever see her husband and the father of her boys again. She knows the odds, yet has the faith.

Johnnie Come Lately, (Camel Press, February 2015) mimics what Kathleen is indeed going through now even though it was written many years ago. Johnnie Kitchen is faced with her own child’s enlistment.

The sequel, Seven Wings to Glory, will continue her trails as a mother with a single star hanging in her window.

I admire Kathleen and her husband, Tom, ever so much; for their dedication to each other, to their country, but mostly to God who holds them all in His loving embrace.

Thank you.

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency http://www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com
Bestselling author of The Final Salute (Deer Hawk Publications. Fall 2014) www.deerhawkpublications.com
Johnnie Come Lately (Camel Press, February 2015) www.camelpress.com
Tarrant County College/NE Campus Distinguished Alumna for 2014
www.kathleenMRodgers.com